Shipping-package for lobsters.



F. B. HIGGINS.

SHIPPING PACKAGE FOR LOBSTERS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I2. 1913.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented sept. a, 1915.

Application filed June 12, 1913. Serial No. 773,223.

To all vwheat 'it may concern? l Be it known that I, FRED B. HIGGINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boothbay Harbor, in the countyr of Lincoln and State of Maine, have invented new and useful Improvements in Shipping-Packages for Lobsters, of which the following is a specification. v

This invention relates to improvements in shipping packages for live lobsters and, the like. f

Some of the diiiiculties, which `attend the transportation of live l lobsters' are mentioned in U. S. Patent No. 1,016,627, dated February' 6, 1912, granted to me for a shipping-package for lobsters; and that patent illustrates what I believe tobe 'the best means previously known or used in the industry.

f The object of the present invention is to improve upon my prior package in several respects, among which may be mentioned the protection of the stock from injury vby change of position of individuals of the -stock as the volume of ice diminishes, the

protection of the stock from injury by the re-icing process, as practised by transportation companies during shipment; and the protection of the individuals of the stock from injury by the activities of other individuals packed with them. There are also .other advantages, Yattained by the improved vmeans that will carry a small or large number of lobsters safely, although handled in Vtransportation by persons unskilled and inexperienced'in the care of this particular commodity.

In' the accompanying. drawings which illustratean embodiment of the present invention: Figure 1 is a plan, showing the package open; and Fig. 2 is a front elevation, with parts broken away to show theV interiorstructure, andcrepresenting the ice compartment filled;

Referring to the drawings, 10 indicates a containing vessel of any suitable construction, represented as being a small wooden cask or tub having a cover 1].. hinged to the body at 12 and adapted to be fastened thereto by a hasp 13, which may be sealed or otherwise made secure in the ordinary way. Vithin the cask I provide a stiff screen 15. forming a sort of wire cage, adapted to hold any suitable refrigerating material, represented here as chipped and broken ice 14. Instead of arranging-this cage centrally and giving it a conical shape tapering toward the top, as in the case of the block of ice Ashown in my said patent, I locate it at one side of the tubv and give it the form of a lobe or sector, so as to provide a crescent shaped space surrounding it where the lobsters may be placed; and preferably this .lobe or sector is made somewhat smaller at the bottom and larger at the top. This cage is convenientlymade froma sheet of ordinary galvanized wire netting, suitably formed and bent. As illustrated, it is fastened byan angle-iron 16 at the top and another one, 17, at the bottom. That, 16, at the top lies along thewall of the cask and is thenV bent inward, forming a recntrantangle that goes practically to the center of the cask and includes a sector of about 1200. 17, at the bottom lies along the walls of the caskV and is similarlyv bent inward to include a sector of about 600, although it may Vnot' extend inward quite to the center.

Holes 18 are shown in the bottom of the cask,

in position tocdrain water from the melting That,

ice and to let air pass in and out. By this construction I ain-ableto eliminate the inte'rnal tube shown in my said patent for carrying air to the top of the receptacle, be-

cause it is possible for air to circulate rather freely` through the brokenice held within the cage, and through the cage, andA because -th'e seaweed 19 separating the stock does not yget compacted so close together, as when the -without itsy being necessary to bend them around so sharp a curve in putting them in; and furthermore, byV concentrating all of the packing space available 'atene side of the ice, a broader space is provided than that available where the space is purelyannular; and this makes it possible to pack a greater number of lobsters in a given container, in case of need, because they can be arranged somewhat staggering with respect to each other; with one toward the inside and the next toward the outside of the space. n And further, if the cask be large enough, two may occupy the same longitudinal stretch, on the same level, around the ice, one being at each side of the sector of ice.

Another feature which I consider of importance is found in the shaping of the lower parts of the ice cage to smaller dimensions. This produces the double result of providing a wider space for lobsters at the bottom and of improving the eiiiciency of the refrigeration. As to the lobsters, it will be understood that they are packed in seaweed and that they have to be kept apart from each other by intervening seaweed, and kept somewhat under constraint in order to prevent any one from getting its claws loose and attacking its neighbors.

The shaping inward of the ice container at the bottom allows a larger proportion of the bottom area to the lobsters, and thus compensates for the diminution of cask area at the bottom due to the shape of the cask. Or, if the cask or other container have straight sides, andy this is more important in the larger sizes, the contracting of the ice cage shape at the bottom allows room for the weight of the column of lobsters to be distributed over a wider area in the bottom. It may, for example, be distributed Vover two lobsters lying side by side on the bottom insteadr of being concentrated upon one, and this improves the chances of the bottom lobster surviving its constraint, and decreases the danger of its being crushed in places, with incidental destruction of its commercial value.

The advantage to the perfection of the process of refrigeration will vbe manifest when it is remembered that the ice naturally settles as it melts. Inasmuch, however, as

the upper portion ofthe ice rests upon netting that converges beneath it, the melting does not cause so much settling down of the ice as if it rested on ice alone. In fact, with the arrangement illustrated, a considerable portion of the ice may have melted and the `top of the ice may yet be well toward the top of the cage. Such settling as does occur is wholly within the cage. This, as compared with the structure of my previous pat ent, relieves the lobsters of the effect of a settling process due to diminution of lateral dimensions of the ice cake, and also provides that the ice shall be in proximity to the upper lobsters for a longer period. The elevation of the `main body of the ice, within the container, maintains a sufficient circula.-A

tion of air because of the settling of the air therefrom to the bottom.

Heretofore when the package has been opened in transit to be re-iced, the attendant has usually put a chunk of ice anywhere on the top. I-Ie then pushes the cover down tight and fastens it, with the result that the lobsters are. more or less crushed. In the present construction, the opening of the top of the cask also opens the top of a compartment, separated from the lobsters, into which the ice can be placed directly and where no amount of compression will crush a lobster because of the strength of the dividing screen. While the lobular arrangement, by which the outside wall of the container 10 forms one wall of the ice-containing cage, the other being formed by the screen l5, is preferable for several reasons, attention is called to the fact that the ice cage is not necessarily so far eccentric and that the advantages of the invention are in the main gained if the ice-containing cage be eccentric only enough to make a lobster compartment that is substantially crescent-like in general form, so that a lobster whose claws are at one point of the crescent cannot work ythrough to interfere with the claws of a lobster in the other horn of the crescent. In the apparatus here represented, these horns are separated from 60 to 120, but this separation is not absolutely necessary and it is probably suiiicient if-these two ends of the lobster compartment do not communicate with each other directly through a space large enough for a lobster to work its claws through. Two lobsters may then be packed on the same level, each with claws in the within the receptacle, for either lobsters or packing or for ice supply. This reduces they size of package necessary for shipping a given number of lobsters.

By enlarging the ice space it makes the .duration of one refrigerating charge greater, @and ktherefore makes the shipment safer,

while not increasing, and in fact withy accompanying diminution of, `the pressure upon and other dangers affecting the stock packed in the place provided for the lobsters. The provision bywhich the diminu- 1* tion'of ice doesnot involve a diminution of support for the lobsters or a condensation of their packing, is an element which con- Y tributes to this result. Hence a package is produced in which a reasonably small number of lobsters, or a larger number, can be shipped to any inland point in such form that "the re-icing can be handled by the transportation company without particular skill for putting in the ice or a particular shape of ice being required, thus enabling such small packages to be delivered like other merchandise at any desired destination at a considerable distance.

I claim as my invention l. A shipping package, comprising a tub; a perforated partition extending up and down therein at an inclination, adapted to hold ice beside its upper side and lobsters beside its lower side, and arranged at a distance from a wall of the tub on its lobsterholding side forming a compartment closed at its ends, having width narrow relative to its length, having depth adapted to receive a plurality of lobsters and having an opening at the top; and means to close said opening; whereby a plurality of lobsters maintained in a single compartment are individually restrained from turning end for end.

2. A shipping package comprising a. tub,

an ice retaining perforated partition extending up and down therein, forming an ice compartment ybetween itself and the tubs wall on one side and a lobster compartment between itselfl and the tubs wall on the other side, andy being arranged at an approximately uniform distance from the wall on the latter side, making the lobster `compartment narrow relative to its length; both compartments having openings and closing means at the top; whereby individuals among a plurality in the lobster compartment are restrained from turning end for end.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 9th day of J une, 1913.

FRED B. HIGGINS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

